Can-seaming machine



Mamh 11 1924}; 1,486,225

7 F. W. BURPEE CAN SEAMING MACHINE Filed Dec. 30. 1922 fi'm/UZBumee.

Patented Man it, 192%.,

FRANK W. BURPEE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

cert-surname nacnrnn.

Application filed December 30, 1922. Serial No. 609,857.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK W. BURPEE, citizen of the Dominion of Canada, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Can-seaming Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved hand seamer for cans and is an improvement on that on which Patent No. 1,293,694 was granted to me and others on the 11th February, 1919. Y

The improvements are directed to a provision enabling the machine to be quickly changed to take cans of different sizes, both in length and diameter. d

In the patent above referred to, variation in the length of the can is provided for by various lengths in the boss of the can supporting plate, or by the interposition of washers thereunder, but the provision of an extra driving head and extra can supporting plate is necessary when a can is to be seamed of different diameter, and such. is provided in the presentinvention.

There are other incidental features of improvement to which attention is drawn in the following specification, reference being made to the drawings by which it is accompanied, in which: Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the seamer, the driving handle and its pinion being removed and the can supports and driving heads being in section and Fig. 2 is a plane with the yoke removed.

In these drawings 2 represents the base frame of the machine which has provision at 3 and 3 for clamping it to a bench or table. On one side of this frame 2 is an upwardly projecting standard 4, which carries on a pin 5, in a manner to be described later, the seaming roller lever 35, 36. On the other side of the base frame an upright column 6 is secured on which the can supporting brackets 15, 16 and driving head supporting brackets 19, 20 are separately mounted to be rotatable together, A

yoke v11 extends across and connects the pin 5 of the upright 4 and the head of the column 6, which oke carries the driving mechanism by which the can is rotated.

The boss of the base frame 2 at the foot of the column 6 has an inclined face 12 and in contact therewith is the correspondingly inclined face on the boss of a lever 13 mounted to turn on the column 6.

Resting on the upper side of the boss of the lever 13 is the elongated boss 14 of the can supporting brackets 15, 16 which extend each way from the boss, and have a pin upwardly projecting from each end on which pins are rotatably mounted the flexibly resilient can supports 7 and 8 adap ed to fit within the circumferential of the can bottom.

The upper end of the column 6 has a shouldered reduction and on the reduced end is mounted the hub 18 of brackets 19 and 20, each carrying a removable headed pin21 on which the can driving heads 9 and 10 are rotatably mounted, The boss 18 of the upper brackets has a halved engagement at 22 with that of the lower brackets, with provision in the half-lapped engagement permitting rise and fall of the lower boss 14 on rotation of the lever 13 with the inclined face 12 of its hub.

The can supporting plates 7 and 8 are of different diameters, and their hubs are of different lengths to suit different sized cans, and as the seaming rollers are carried on afixed pin 5, the brackets 16, 20, which carry the smaller diameter of supporting piate 8 and driving head 10 are necessarily longer than those which support the larger plate 7 and driving head 9, by an amount equal to half the difference of diameter, that the outer edges of 9 andlO may, when brought into use, he in the same proximity to the seaming rollers 32 and 33.

Integral with or secured to each driving head 9 and 10, to rotate with it, is a gear wheel 23 or 24, the diameters of which are similarly proportioned to the driving head, that the teeth of each may mesh with those of a pinion 25, freely rotatable on a headed pin 26 secured in the yoke 11 to downwardly project from it.

Integral with this pinion 25 is a bevel pinion 27, in the teeth of which mesh those of a bevel pinion 28 integral or secured to-the hub 29 of a crank handle 30 rotatable on a pin 31 secured in the yoke 11 to project from it.

As in the earlier patent, referred to in the preamble, the seaming rollers 32, 33 and cutting roller 34, ardrotatably mounted in an enlargement 35 of a handled lever 36 mounted on the pin 5 which secures the yoke 11 to the upright portion 4 of the frame. I

As the circumferential seam of a can is carried across the longitudinal seam of the same, it is necessary to provide a measure ofi'esilience between the pin 21 of the driv ing head and the pin 5 on which the seaming roller lever 36 is mounted.

In the former patent referred to, this resilience is provided for by a [Ll-bend in the yoke 11, and in a later application, recently filed and now pending, the driving head is mounted on a spring pin. The former de vice cannot be used where theyoke 11 is a die casting, and the latter would lIlVOlVG a spring pin for each driving head 9- and 10. Therefore in the present case I provide a bushing 37 in the seaming lever, which bushing is lengthwise split through the greater part of itsdiametcr, as 'at 38, the split being across the direct line of pressure between the centre of the pin 5 and the axis of the driving head. This bushing is se-.

cured in the hub of the lever to rotate on the pin 5, the bearing of the pin 5 being eccentric with the bushing 37 to clear the diametrical split38.

In use, the driving head 9 or 10 as required is turned toward the seaming rollers 32, 33 to bring its gear Wheel 23 or 24 into mesh with the pinion 25. The placed:

head is secured in position by a drop pin 4:0 slidably mounted in the yoke 11 to register with an aperture 41 in each arm 19 and 20 of the driving heads. With this movement the corresponding can support 7 or -8 is, by virtue of the half-lap engagement 22, also carried into aligned position with its driving head.

A can is then placed on the support and the lever 13 is partially rotated to lift the cover of the can into engagement with the driving head by the inclined face 12 on which its'hub rests.

Then, as inthe previous patent referred to, while the can is rotated by the crank handle 30, the seaming lever is moved to effect the seaming of the cover seam, the split- 38 of the.bushing 37 permitting sufficient resilient yield to allow the body seam of the I can to pass under the seaming roller.

Means is thus provided whereby the same cover seaming mechanism is readily applicable to seam the covers of cans of various diameters and depths.

It will be obviousthat, although the col- ,umn 6 is illustrated and described as carrying two can supporting brackets and their driving heads, the number is not necessarily so limited, as provision can as readily be made for three or four, each of different diameter.

Having now particularly described my incombination with a suitable frame having provision for securing the same to a table or I the like, a series of can supports rotatably mounted on theends of arms radially proectmg from a'hub mounted to turn on a vertical axis, a series of can driving heads rotatably mounted in the ends of similar arms to be movable with the can supports about the same axis, each driving head and its cansupport being in axial alignment and supported at such distance from the common axis that the outer edges. of the supports and driving heads are equidistant from the axis about which they move, a seaming roller rotatably mounted in the approximate plane of the driving head, means for securing any one of the driving heads and its can support in a position where the circumferential cover seam of a can between the support and the driving head may be engaged by the seaming roller, and means for rotating the driving head that is in such position.

v 2. A hand seamer for cans, comprising the combination with a suitable frame having provision for securing the same-to a table or the like, a series of can supports rotatably mounted on the ends of arms projecting from a hub mounted to turn about a "ertical axis, a series of can driving heads rotatably mounted in the ends of similar,

arms to be movable with the can supports about the same axis, each driving head and its can support being in axial alignment and supported at such distance from the common axis that the outer edges of the driving head are equidistant from the axis, a seaming roller mountedin the end of the lever to rotate in a plane approximate that of the driving heads, a leverpivoted in the frame, means for securing any one of the I driving heads and its can support in a p0-v sition where the coverv seam of a can be-' tween the support and the driving head may be engaged by the seaming roller, and means rotatably mounted in the frame for driving '115 the head that is in such position.

- 3. A hand .seamer for cans, comprising the combination with a suitable frame having provision for securing the same to a table or the like, a series of can supports 12 rotatabl mounted on the ends of arms projecting from a hub mounted to rotate about an axis parallel to the can su ports, a corresponding series of can drivlng heads rotatably mounted in the ends of similar arms to be movable with the can supports about the same axis, each driving head and its can support being in axial alignment, means for lifting the can supports to secure a can thereon in driving engagement with the driving head, a seaming roller mounted to rotate in a plane approximate that of the driving head, means for securing any one of the driving heads and its can support in a position where the cover seam of the can may be engaged by the seaming roller, and means for driving the head when in such position.

4. A hand seamer for cans, comprising the combination with a suitable frame ha vinrr provision for securing the same to a table or the like, said frame having two uprights projecting from its upper side, a yoke connecting the upper end of the upright, a handled lever fulcrumed on the head of one of the posts, seaming rollers rotatably mounted in the lever, a hub rotatably mounted on the other post and having arms oppositely projecting from it, a can supporting plate of different diameter rotatably mounted at a different height on the outer end. of each arm, the length of the arm being inversely proportioned to the diameter ofthe plate supported on it, a second hub mounted on the upper end of the same column to be rotatable with the arms carrying the supporting plate, said hub having arms proectmg from it corresponding to those of the can supporting plate, driving heads rotatably mounted on the ends of the arms, the diameters of which heads correspond to those of the supporting plate with which they are in alignment, a geared wheel integral with or secured to each driving head, means for securing each driving head and its supporting arm in a position where it can be engaged by the seaming roller, and means mounted on the upright on which the hubs of the can supporting arms and driving heads are mounted for lifting the can supportlng plates to bring a can on the plate into engagement with -its driving head, a

pinion mounted in the yoke for engaging the gear wheel of the driving head which is secured in proximity to the seaming roller, and means for rotating the pinion.

5. A hand seamer for cans, comprising the combination with a suitable frame having provision 'for securing the same to a table or the like, means rotatably mounted in the frame for supporting and driving a can, a lever pivotally mounted in the frame, a seaming roller rotatably mounted in the lever in proximity to the cover seamof'the can, means for forcibly pressin the seaming roller into engagement with the cover seam of the can, a bushing retained in the lever, said bushing having an eccentric pivot bearing in the frame and between the pivot and the can drive diametrically split parallel to the axis of the pivot through the greater part of the diameter whereby a spring resistance is opposed to backward movement of the seaming roller while pass-, ing over the body seam of the can while folding the cover seam.

6. Ahand seamer for cans, comprising the combination with a suitable frame having provision for securing the same to a table or the like, means rotatably mounted in the frame for supporting and driving a can, a lever pivotally mounted in the frame, a fulcrum bearing for the lever, comprising a pin, an eccentric bushing on the pin, on the outer side of which bushing the lever fits, the eccentricity of the bushing directed toward the can drivin means and the eccentric portion of the pin being split through the greater part of its diameter in a plane parallel to the axis of the pin and approximately normal to a line between the axis of the fulcrum pin and that of the can drive, and a seaming roller rotatably mounted in the lever adjacent the fulcrum.

In testimony whereof I afiix In si FRANK W. BlIR nature. 

